Volunteer of the Month
Archives
October 2021
Don Harper
This month we’d like to shine the light on Don Harper is one of our longtime Transportation Assistance Program (TAP) drivers. Don has been a member for about 7 ½ years, and has been driving for 5 ½ years. During that time he has become one of our go-to drivers driving multiple times a week, and sometimes several trips in one day. He first heard about the center from his mother-in-law, who is a Wii Bowler. She got him a membership and he came and joined the Wii Bowling league. He then remembered then Outreach Director, Holly Andrade, talking about TAP and how they needed drivers. He gave it a test drive, enjoyed it and has been doing it ever since. He loves driving, and loves the people. He thinks of this as his job, but a job he enjoys. The clients love him too and has clients who ask for him. Originally from Fort Worth, TX, his mom brought him out here when he was two. He inched his way over from Blythe, to Beaumont, to Highland. We are thankful that his travels brought him closer to us. Thanks Don for driving that extra mile for us!
Featured Class
Excel Class
Date: January 26, 2022
Time: 10:00 - 11:00 am
Length: 8 weeks
Cost: $8 members
$8 non-members
Instructor: TBA
Location: Game Room
Description: The class is on hiatus until the new year. Look for an Excel class!
Featured Activity
Ballroom Dancing - ON HIATUS
Time: Tuesdays 6:30 p.m.
Cost: Free members
Free non-members
Location: Exercise Room
Description: This month we'd like the light to shine on a place that naturally deserves a spotlite...Ballroom Dancing. Our new evening Ballroom Dance instructor is Ricardo Tomboc. Ricardo takes over for his former instructor, Lucy Guss. The FREE class takes place on Tuesday, starting at 6:30 p.m., and is split into 2 halves a night. The first half is teaching, and the 2nd half is open dance, where generally, advanced dances pair up with beginners. He will also have guest instructors. Although he is an instructor, he enjoys going to other schools to keep up his skills and pick up new techniques. This is why he brings other instructors in. So the students will get a variety of techniques. When Ricardo is teaching, his classes run the entire gamut; the foxtrot, waltz, cha-cha-cha, tango, salsa, some disco, and the nightclub 2 step, to name a few. The class is open to everyone and students don't have to bring anything You can bring dancing shoes if you have them, but you don't need them to dance. Just a desire to learn and have fun.
Operation Senior Claus 2011
By: Mike Sylva
(Christmas) is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book
For those who have read Washington Irving’s ‘Old Christmas,’ you can appreciate the impact he had on bringing the idyllic English Christmas stateside. He is also credited by Charles Dickens as an influence on his own Christmas writings, including the classic A Christmas Carol. Both works seek to bring back the idea of hospitality. Something we could use in this commercialized Christmas era.
One way you can help with this is to remember that in this “season of giving”, it’s not always the amount of presents, or giving for giving’s sake. It’s giving to make a difference to someone. Presents don’t have to be big or expensive. Sometimes the smallest thing can make the biggest difference in someone’s life. For some seniors it only takes 1 can of food, or $10 gift card to brighten the holidays of a senior this Christmas.
Operation Senior Claus is now coming to the home stretch and we need you to make it a success for us, but also a Merry Christmas for our seniors. We are hoping to help out over 100 seniors this years, but we need your help. We will be preparing Christmas dinners (turkey and all the trimmings), and little gift baskets for some worthy seniors. To do this we are still in need of money donations, gift cards to food markets, as well as hygiene products (i.e. toothbrushes, shampoo).
So please think about helping out those less fortunate and take the words of Ruth Cater Stapleton to heart. “Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.”
